New York Governor Bans State Travel to North Carolina over Anti-LGBT Law

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed into law a bill that repealed every local LGBT anti-discrimination law and requires individuals to use the bathroom that matches with the biological gender written on their birth certificate.

Because of this, the state of New York just joined other cities in the nation including Seattle and San Francisco in restricting non-essential public-employee travel to North Carolina. Backlash also includes the NBA threatening to pull next year’s All Star game out of Charlotte. Companies including American Airlines, Facebook and Paypal are also against the law.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City mayor Bill de Blasio’s executive order bans “all taxpayer-funded trips trip to North Carolina, unless they’re essential to public health or law enforcement.”

“In New York, we believe that all people—regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation—deserve the same rights and protections under the law. From Stonewall to marriage equality, our state has been a beacon of hope and equality for the LGBT community, and we will not stand idly by as misguided legislation replicates the discrimination of the past. As long as there is a law in North Carolina that creates the grounds for discrimination against LGBT people, I am barring non-essential state travel to that state,” said Governor Cuomo in a statement.

This isn’t the first time Cuomo instituted a similar ban on nonessential state travel. This also happened to Indiana in 2015 following the passing of SB 101, a “religious freedom” bill.